Sure, the first driverless car doesn't really help other people. But there are network effects. The more driverless cars, the better everyone else is off. 1. O

Sure, the first driverless car doesn't really help other people. But there are network effects. The more driverless cars, the better everyone else is off. 1. Owning a driverless car and leaving it parked would be a waste of money. Either rent out your car as an Uber taxi, or simply don't own a car, and use a driverless one as a cheap taxi to work. Long-term, if everyone had a driverless car and used it like this it leads to an 80% reduction in the number of cars required. Isn't that good for the world? (minus GM shareholders). That's some major congestion relief. 2. A lot of congestion is due to drivers screwing up. Bad lane changes, driving too close to each other, idling, etc. Google cars would smooth this out. 3. Easy to send the driverless car to the supercharger station to fill up while you're at work. 4. We get driverless buses too, right? Meaning cheaper buses, meaning more quantity demanded. The author is correct though, in that a lower cost of usership will lead to a higher quantity demanded. Some of my previous comments here: http://vancouverdata.blogspot.ca/2012/08/googles-self-driving-cars-are-going-to.html http://vancouverdata.blogspot.ca/2012/08/googles-self-drivin... https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6007977 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6007977